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SE Wis |
Let's Call this...................PREFACE TO SENIOR DATING
Long ago, when Moby Dick was still a minnow, someone said that age was only a number, and maybe it is but why does our society use those numbers when identifying our worth?
When we were younger and driven to succeed, did our talents and abilities somehow have more value? Most of us had family priorities that took a first position in our lives. That meant working long hours, even if we were ill, so as to provide support for those within our family circle and at times, for those beyond it.
Now that our responsibilities have changed and it's our children who have accepted the roll of caring for their own families, many seniors are having trouble attaching meaning to this new secondary level of importance. Some of us have been called "Grandpa and Grandma" for so many years that we've sort of lost our individual identity. In a lot of cases, even our own kids have stopped calling us "Mom and Dad" and replaced it with "Grandma and Grandpa".
On one of his Sunday morning visits with his lonely seventy year old father, the son met his father at he door, only to find his dads eyes filled with tears. He had once again been paging through the family picture album......, and remembering when. Or the call the daughter received just after midnight from her mom who needed something for the kitchen. When pressed to explain why she really called, the mom, choking and crying, admitted that she so dearly missed the man who had been at her side for forty years and had lost to cancer.
Loneliness had once again taken it's toll. If you combine these sadness's with the fact that some of us have also lost children, it makes putting on a smiling face sometimes difficult, if not impossible. In the senior community stories like this are all to common.
When we were young adults, the future was challenging and exciting but as seniors, much of what is yet to come in our lives is unsettling, even frightening.
Possibly the prospect of once again being part of a couple isn't really what you're looking for, but the concept of friendship and/or companionship is something that you might entertain.
Then why not join a group of active seniors? They have planned events and something will surly be of interest to you. Transportation generally isn't a problem as car pooling is a widely accepted means of sharing expenses nowadays.
It's a shame that so many of these meeting places are labeled senior citizen centers, how could that sound anymore negative? Wouldn't it be nice if some of these energetic mature folks would call themselves, "The Prime Examples" and let the entire community know that sixty is not the new forty, but rather, that they're a mature, vibrant part of our society. Worthwhile lovers of life who have no intention of finding a dimly lit corner where they won't draw attention.
Some of us have decided to take a stick to this beehive they call the "SUNSET YEARS". Wanna come along?? | |
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What's in a Name
